SG1's New Puppy
by Kate McCaye
Summary: Just a little conversation I imagined between O'Neill and Carter, as O'Neill's trying to decide who's going to fill the fourth spot on SG1 after Daniel's gone.


A/N: This is just some random missing scene stuff. I love Jonas, I think he's adorable.

SG1 Gets a New Puppy

Colonel Jack O'Neill couldn't sleep, which was unusual for him. With a life as crazy as his, if every little thing kept him up at night, he would have been without a decent night's sleep for about the past thirty years. But he was wrestling with a very important decision, one that would affect not only his life, but the rest of SG1 as well.   
  
He rolled over impatiently, punching his pillow to force it into a shape more conducive to sleep. It didn't work. He lit up the back light on his wristwatch in the dark. 02:41. He needed to talk to his 2IC about this.   
  
During the day they were both so busy... but she probably wouldn't appreciate him waking her up in the middle of the night if it wasn't an emergency. And it would certainly help fuel the rumors continually circling the base if he was seen entering her quarters in the middle of the night. Add those reasons to the fact that he knew she wasn't very happy with him at the moment... it all meant he should remain in his own room and continue to toss and turn.   
  
Not that she was ever anything less than professional, but he knew she was hurt that he hadn't seemed to need her at all to get over what had happened to Daniel. He groaned and rolled out of bed. "Forget this," he said grumpily to the room as he pulled the sweat pants he'd discarded earlier back on. "I'm going."   
  
There were few lights on in the empty corridors as he walked the short distance to his 2IC's quarters. He raised his hand to knock but stopped, suddenly feeling as if he should have brought something... a peace offering of some sort. Coffee. He should bring coffee.   
  
He hurried up to the overnight security guys, whom he preferred to socialize with as little as possible. They were just... not normal. But it would be the only place to get hot coffee in the middle of the night. "Evening, boys!" he said loudly as he entered the room purposefully. He had a mission now.   
  
The two SFs jumped in their seats, startled. "Colonel O'Neill!" the one with glasses exclaimed. "Is there something wrong, sir?"   
  
"Nope. Just wanted to mooch a couple cups of coffee off of you boys if you don't mind."   
  
"Oh... of course, sir. Help yourself," Glasses said quickly, trying to hide his surprise with an overly-large and unnecessary sweeping gesture towards the little coffee station.   
  
"Thanks. Knew I could count on you fellas." He hurried over to the table, grabbed two Styrofoam cups, filled one with black coffee, filled the other, and began adding cream and sugar carefully.   
  
He could feel the officers looking at him curiously and knew they were fighting the urge to be nosy. Clearly, the urge won, because the one without glasses spoke up. "I could bring you a fresh pot, if you'll be needing more, sir," he offered.   
  
"Nope. This should be plenty, thanks." Realizing he'd piqued their curiosity and they'd more than likely be following him via security camera from now on anyway, he decided to have a little fun with them. "Although I dunno, Carter can put away a lot of coffee," he added casually as he stirred the cup's contents.   
  
"Major Carter?" Glasses asked quickly.   
  
He turned to them both suspiciously. "Sorry, sir," No glasses apologized.   
  
"No, it's okay. Of course Major Carter. Any other Carter's on this base?"   
  
"No sir," Glasses said quickly. Clearly trying to recover, he added, "I just thought... Major Carter's not working all night in her lab tonight, sir..."   
  
"Yes, I know that," he said, taking a cup in each hand and heading for the door.   
  
He could virtually FEEL the look the two were sharing behind his back. Suppressing a grin, he turned back to them quickly. "Oh, come on. If we were breaking the frat regs do you really think I'd be in here parading it around?" He left before they could answer, sipping his coffee and smirking to himself as he headed back to Carter's quarters.   
  
"Wow, those guys make good coffee," he thought to himself as he balanced them both in one hand and knocked sharply with the other. He waited a few moments before she opened the door. She'd obviously been sleeping. Her hair was very messy and her cheeks were pink. She had on a very old, worn Air Force shirt and shorts.   
  
"Sir?" she asked, clearly not fully awake yet. "Something wrong?"   
  
"No, I just... wanted to talk to you," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb anybody else.   
  
"Now, sir?" she asked, hiding a yawn behind her hand.   
  
"Yeah. It's important. Please." It wasn't a word he used often, at least not without the faintest trace of sarcasm, and he was positive that was what made her decide to let him in.   
  
She went over to her table and flicked on the lamp while he shut the door with his foot.   
  
"Sorry about waking you up," he said awkwardly as she pulled the blanket off her bed and wrapped it around herself. "I just... couldn't sleep and it's hard to talk during the day." She nodded and sat down in one of the chairs at the table, hugging one knee to her chest and waiting for him to explain why he had interrupted her sleep.   
  
"I, ah, thought you might want some coffee," he said as he sat down at the other chair, placing her cup in front of her.   
  
"Thanks," she said, taking a small sip. "Ah. This is from security."   
  
"How do you know that?"   
  
She shrugged. "They bring me coffee sometimes when I'm working late in the lab."   
  
Oh brother. Did EVERY subordinate on base have a crush on his 2IC?! Probably, he thought grimly.   
  
"Yeah. Well... I wanted to talk to you about... SG1."   
  
"Yes, sir."   
  
"I mean... before I make any decision on... who's going to fill the... the fourth spot, I want to make sure it's someone we all feel okay about."   
  
She looked at him in mild surprise. He wasn't required to do that.   
  
"Um... are you okay, Carter, you're having a lot harder time waking up than normal."   
  
"Yeah, I'm okay... Janet insisted on making me take something to help me sleep tonight... it's mild though, I'm fine."   
  
"You're sure?"   
  
"Yes, sir. I promise I'll remember this conversation tomorrow."   
  
"Good," he said with a fond smile. "Well then, I've got a question for you. How would you like your very own puppy?"   
  
"A puppy?" she repeated, clearly confused as to what a puppy could possibly have to do with the problem of appointing a fourth person to SG1.   
  
He smiled. "Well, he's... sort of like a puppy. Constantly cheerful, eager to please and learn..."   
  
"Are you talking about Jonas, sir?" she asked suddenly in surprise.   
  
"Aw, Carter, I had a lot more worked out with the whole puppy metaphor... there was even a bit about him chasing his own tail..."   
  
She laughed quietly into her cup and said, "Sorry, sir."   
  
"It's okay."   
  
"So... Jonas. On SG1. Have you already talked to Teal'c about it?" she asked, curious if he had gone to Teal'c first, and what Teal'c's response had been if he had.  
  
"Sort of... Teal'c actually approached me about it. I think he figured out that I was having a hard time deciding between Jonas or somebody else. Today while we were changing in the locker room, he just casually said that he was certain whatever decision I made would be best for the team and he would stand behind it."   
  
She nodded. Typical Teal'c, but it didn't really help her make up her own mind.   
  
He watched her think about it for a while and finally said, "All right I'm not the talker out of the four of us as you know..." He couldn't help it; he still thought of them as a unit complete with Daniel. "But... I'm gonna try, okay?"   
  
Surprised, she nodded.   
  
He took a big gulp of coffee and said, "Nobody will ever replace Daniel. For any of us. Despite... how I've been acting, you have to know that I get that, okay? I get it big time. I've never been closer to another man in my whole life than Daniel and I were... nobody's going to feel like Daniel to us."   
  
He waited for several moments. He could tell by the look on her face she was busy trying to turn off the flashes of Daniel going through her mind. He'd been doing the same thing since it had happened.   
  
When she met his eyes again, he nodded sightly and continued after impulsively letting himself squeeze her forearm supportively. "We need a fourth member though. A three-person team just doesn't have the back-up power I want to feel safe. So I thought about it a lot, but people aren't really my area. That was Daniel. So I tried to think like him. Tried to figure out who he'd pick if he could. That's how I got to Jonas. He's got that spark of enthusiasm you and Daniel have always shared. I mean, you still have it, but I'm talking about the kind you had when it was all still new. The whole 'We're not in Kansas anymore' excitement you tried so hard and failed so miserably to hide because you thought it was unprofessional."   
  
He smiled fondly at the memories that brought up but continued determinedly. "Jonas has that. I know it will be weird having to explain so much to him but he's a fast learner. Another good thing about him. He can learn what Daniel left behind faster than anybody else."   
  
"Sounds like you've already made up your mind, sir."   
  
"I haven't. On paper, he looks good, but if you don't want to work with him, we won't put him on the team. I'm sure he'd still prove valuable to the SGC from an on-base position."   
  
"Are you saying I have to decide?"   
  
"No. This isn't an order, because I know the Major Carter answer to this question. I want the Sam answer. Would you be happy with Jonas Quinn on SG1? Every day. Don't give me any tough soldier crap here, I want an honest answer."   
  
He watched her think for a moment before she said, "I... think so sir." That seemed to solidify her decision even more, because she nodded more firmly and added, "Yes, sir, I would."   
  
"You're sure? With all the history... and everything. You can trust him as a teammate?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"And you'll... he won't... get in the way of... grieving? For Daniel?" He asked gently.   
  
"Anybody is going to be there because Daniel is not," she said simply with a sad shrug. "But beyond that fact, his identity won't influence it. No sir."   
  
He nodded, watching her thoughtfully. "I wasn't being completely flippant before. It would be like getting a puppy. A very smart, not so hairy puppy, but still. And to be perfectly honest here, Carter, I'll need you to train him. Pat him on the head when he does a good job, smack him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper if he pees in the corner..."   
  
He could see her picturing Jonas doing those things and was happy to see her smile all the way up to her eyes for a moment.  
  
"And be able to get him away from me if he starts to annoy me too much."   
  
She looked at him in surprise and he continued. "I know you don't like the way I'm dealing, but... it's my way, okay? I'm still responsible for the safety and success of my team, so if I have to bury things so I can get on with the job without screwing up and losing somebody else, that's what I'm going to do. And Jonas can be a lot to take at once. If we do this, I'm going to need to know you're holding his leash. So to speak."   
  
She smiled at that, staring at her cup. "It might not be fair of me to put that responsibility on you, Carter, and I'm sorry. But that's the only way this has a shot in hell at working." She nodded. "On the plus side, I think... and I could be wrong here, but... I think it might be good for you too. Having him as a little project."   
  
If she was surprised at his sudden insight, she hid it well.   
  
"Okay," she agreed, looking him in the eye again. "I'll do it. Let's do it."   
  
"You're sure."   
  
"You were right, sir... Daniel would pick him. I can handle it."   
  
"All right, glad to hear it."   
  
They stared at each other for a few moments before he finally said, "Well, I'm glad I woke you up then, Carter!" He stood up to go. "Hope you don't have trouble getting back to sleep..."   
  
His hand was on the knob when she said quickly, "Colonel, wait!"   
  
He turned, a curious expression on his face as she unfolded herself from the chair and crossed the little room to stand in front of him, still hugging the blanket tightly round herself for warmth. "I just... I'm glad you woke me up too, sir. I just... really appreciate that you wanted to... consider how I felt about the situation before making the decision. It... means a lot, sir."   
  
Don't hug her, he repeated a few times. Too risky at the moment. Make a joke.   
  
"See, that's why I don't talk about this kind of stuff... I've got a reputation to uphold around here, ya know. I'm supposed to be the insensitive, cranky old colonel."   
  
She smiled at the lame attempt but wasn't about to let it deter her now. "Well, your secret's safe with me, Colonel, but I know the truth... you can be kind of sweet sometimes."   
  
He smiled and placed a finger to his mouth. "Shh. Not a word. That's classified."   
  
"Yes, sir," she said with a small laugh.   
  
"Well, then, I'll see you in the morning when we ship out, Major. Oh, we'll be gone a few days so be sure to bring a flea collar for your new puppy, maybe a baggie or two... might want to get him something to chew on too... keeps em busy so they don't go after your shoes, you know."


End file.
